


What are the chances?

by bval_0201



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-06-02 15:39:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6571903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bval_0201/pseuds/bval_0201
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shane is a senior at the University of Oregon. She loves three things, her family, swimming and the US Women's National Team. Shane wants to meet her crush Tobin Heath but she doesn't think she ever will. Because what are the chances that she'll ever actually meet her? And what are the chances Tobin will actually want to talk to her? What are the chances?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys hope you enjoy this!

It had been an amazing summer. The time spent traveling to all across the U.S. had done you good. You felt incredibly refreshed before you had to start back at Oregon for college. The only thing that had you bummed out is that you never got to see the U.S. women’s national soccer team play in person, you could never line up the dates you were free to when the had the World Cup or then the Victory Tour.

While you were upset you knew that they would have some more games soon to prepare them for the Olympics. You hoped you could convince your parents to go on a mini vacation to see them in January, if they had a game, it’d be during your winter break and hopefully the dates would line up. It wouldn’t hurt if you asked for the tickets as a Christmas present. While you lived about two hours from Portland you never had the time to go up and see the Thorns, and your favorite player Tobin, play; between summer school, your friends, and training for swimming- you couldn’t afford to make the two hour trip up there during the NWSL season.

Thankfully all of your hard work was going to pay off though, your summer courses put you ahead in credits towards your double major, so you had a relatively easy semester ahead of you. You’re currently driving back to your apartment now. It’s a small two bedroom right of campus that has more scratches in the hardwood than a busy store, but its home, and has been for the past two years. While it’s a tight fit for the two of you, you make it work, with the only arguments being about who gets to shower first.  
You decided after one disastrous year in the dorms you were never going to do that again; so you and your best friend, Nikki, started renting this apartment right after your lease in the dorms ended. You met Nikki your freshmen year, she was your roommate from the East coast who was here on a volleyball scholarship. You guys bonded over the fact you were both at Oregon on scholarship, different sports obviously with you being a swimmer who is wholly uncoordinated out of the water, but you guys shared the same obsessive love of Harry Potter, goofy jokes, hats and video games. You were fast friends that have stayed close through your years at school, even when you came out as gay to her your freshmen year she never even batted an eye just looked you straight in the eye and said “me too.” After that she became your confidant, the person you were closest too besides your older sister. 

Currently you’re walking into your apartment to see Nikki spread out on the couch looking exhausted. 

“Dude you look awful. What’d your coach do to you guys?” you ask as you move her legs to sit down next to her.

“Coach thought it’d be a great time to do some fitness testing today.” She says with a groan while she struggles to sit up and face you so you can talk about your plans for tomorrow.

“That’s rough dude I’m sorry. How’d you do?” you question genuinely interested.

“Well I passed, but coach wasn’t happy with the rest of the team’s performance so we may end up doing it again soon and I don’t think I’ll survive that.” She complains as she snuggles up to you so you can massage her sore muscles. It’s a tradition that you started in freshman year to help each other recovery faster and hopefully avoid the dreaded ice baths.

“I can help you train if you want, you know how rigorous my work outs are, you’d meet your coach’s requirements in no time.” You state not looking up from rubbing out the knots in her calve muscles. “We could also just combine your workout into mine. Its always good to diversify your workouts so that you don’t plateau. I could definitely use the change from my normal workout.” You say as an afterthought to see if she’ll agree. You know she won’t unless you make it seem like shed be doing you the favor. You can see her really thinking about it as you continue rubbing out her muscles before she speaks to you.

“Alright I’ll do it but only if I’m really gonna help you. I don’t want to slow you down bub.” She says before she moves her legs from your lap and cuddles up into you side while turning on the TV to ESPN to hopefully catch any highlights from the last Victory tour game that she knows you want to re-watch. You smile down at her and kiss the top of her head before settling in to watch the TV.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

It’s the week before winter break and you’re on the phone with your mom trying to iron down all the travel times. While you’re talking she asks what your one big present will be that year and you don’t hesitate in telling her.

“Definitely tickets to the friendly in January.” You rush out hoping against hope that she’ll agree. You had been planning for her to ask this question and hadn’t asked for anything big leading up to Christmas so that your parents would pick the tickets as your big present. You hear your mom chuckle before she responds.

“I’ll see what we can do baby, but don’t get your hopes up to high you know how popular they are now.” She responds, ever the protector. You silently roll your eyes even though she can’t see you. You know she means well.

“Okay mamma I won’t. So I’ll be leaving on the 22nd right after morning practice. That’s the earliest coach will let anyone leave for the holidays.” You say hoping to get back on track with the travel planning. You talk for a few more minutes with your mom asking is Nikki would be joining the family activities again this year. You tell her yes and your mom is ecstatic she gets to see her third daughter as she puts it. Nikki had been coming home with you for every holiday since freshman year, her home situation wasn’t the best so you always offered her an escape at your house. 

Once you get off the phone you look at your watch to see how long you have until you have to leave for practice. You’re a swimmer for the University of Oregon. One of the better ones in the program due to your natural affinity for water. It helps that you stand at a tall 5’ 10’’ with a solid muscle build that leaves you with plenty to brag about. The tattoos don’t hurt either. You have three right now- one on your ribs that’s a pair of angel wins with the quote “life is a beautiful struggle” wrapped around the wings with the day your great grandma died in between the wings, a tribute piece to Harry Potter that you got with your sister the “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good” wraps around your side right under you right breast, and the last on on the other side of your ribs a Robert Frost poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” as a tribute to your grandma- but you hope to get two more.

You’ve never hurt for a date but the girls that threw themselves at you never interested you. You always had the biggest and most hopeless crush on Tobin Heath. You knew that she’d never even heard your name but that didn’t stop your pining. Nikki loved to tease you about it, anytime a game would be on she’d wait for the camera to pan to Tobin and then yell at you that your girlfriend was on TV. It drove you crazy but you never put a stop to it since it was all in good fun.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Christmas was an uneventful affair, you arrived at your childhood home late Friday night. Your parents lived in a house right of the beach in Northern California. You loved your childhood home it had so many great memories in it. You and Nikki were so worn out that you crashed as soon as you got to your rooms. The next day was full of family activities like the cookie baking contest that would always get super competitive between you and your older sister Sammy. You still claim that she poisoned you on purpose that one Christmas, she contends it was an accident and the eggs were bad. You don’t believe her.

The days before Christmas go by fast with all of the fun you’re having. The only damper on the get away is that you have to wake up super early in order to get your workout in.Christmas morning you decide to forego your workout in favor of sleeping in. But you’re so excited you can’t contain the urge to rip into your presents any longer so you rush down stairs to see what you got this year. When you make it down stairs you see that Nikki is already up and is tearing into her presents. You plop down next to her and go to town on yours. You end up with some things your really needed, a new Oregon hoodie because yours was falling apart but you refused to get rid of it, saying it had to many memories for you to part with, some sports bras and spandex to add to your ever growing collection, and a new book that your sister said was really good.

You were happy with the presents you had but were slightly disappointed because you didn’t get the one you really wanted. Your family was lounging around the living room just basking in each others company after a successful Christmas when your mom handed you an envelope.

“Open it up Shaney, I think you’ll really like this last present.” Your mom said with a slight smirk like she knew something you didn’t. You were a little worried because while small your mom did have a slight mischievous streak in her.

“Um oh okay, sure.” You fumbled taking the envelope from her hand, you took a deep breath to steady your nerves before you opened the envelope and took out the papers that were siting in side. You looked at the sheet of copy paper first and sat there speechless. You couldn’t believe your eyes. You thought for sure this was a prank or something.

“Is this for real mamma?!?!” you asked with a touch of shock in your voice. “Am I really going to get to see them play?! Like live in person? Like actually at the game, by the bench?!” it was too much at this point so you were running around the room to your dad then mom and then finally your sister, trying to get a straight answer out of one of them.

“Yeah baby you’re gonna get to see them in January, the schedules worked out just great, the games only about an hour and a half drive from here and you’re still on winter break so we thought why not send you Nikki and Sammy to see your girl play!” you couldn’t believe it! You were going to see the TOBIN HEATH play in person. It was a dream come true for you. Rationally you knew you’d probably never even speak to her but this was the best present you could have ever asked for. 

“Ahhhhh! Thank you guys so much! I love you, but I have to pack and pick out the perfect hat and shirt combo. Come on Nikki you have to help!” you ran to the couch where your mom and dad were sitting, gave them a big hug and then grabbed Nikki’s arm as you sprinted out of the room narrowly avoiding your sister who was standing up from her chair to help in your crazed packing session.

“Alright dude but I get full veto powers!” Nikki groaned out from being pulled up so quickly. You agreed immediately because really, what are the chances that you get to see Tobin play live? There was no chance of meeting her but seriously being there was a dream come true.

Boy were you wrong.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shane travels and gets two huge surprises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second chapter hope you enjoy!

You were excited out of your mind. Throwing anything and everything into your suitcase while you babbled about how awesome it would be, to be right next to the bench and then so close to the field. You could see Nikki and your sister Sam out of the corner of your eye sitting on your bed laughing at your mini freak out.

“Dude you need to relax you’re being scary excited.” Sam finally stated through her giggles while Nikki nodded her head from beside her. You rolled your eyes before turning to face them fully while holding two hats in your hands.

“Which hat should I take?” you asked ignoring the question completely. “I want it to match with everything so I only have to take one but the US soccer one that I have doesn’t go with everything that I want to pack.” You rambled on, not stopping to let them answer you.

“Alright Shane just stop. Take your black PDX hat and that’s it.” Nikki finally cut in, stopping your short craze filled rant from continuing. 

“Okay, yeah that sounds good. Yeah I’ll do that.” You agree easily, taking a deep breath to calm your frayed nerves. “I just want this to be perfect guys!” you exclaim while falling back onto the bed next to them.

“Shane everything will be fine. You don’t need to stress dude. It’s not like you’re gonna be having a conversation with Tobin ya know?” Sam said trying to soothe you. 

“Yeah you’re right. I’ll try to chill out. Thanks for calming me down guys.” You said while scooting over and lifting yourself on top of both of them. They laughed trying to push you off of them, but you didn’t budge. You were happy to have people like them in your life that balanced you out. You loved them for it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

The days leading up to the game were uneventful. You and Nikki drove back to your apartment so that you could make sure to pack exactly what you wanted and that you had anything you thought you needed.

Every morning you and Nikki would get up to work out together. Then you would head to practice and come home in the late afternoon to have lunch. As the days passed and the game got closer you couldn’t help but get more and more excited each day. You couldn’t wait to see all of the girls play live. But more importantly you couldn’t wait to see Tobin play live. You couldn’t dispute she was amazing to watch on tv but you knew it’d be even more amazing to be able to see her skills live.

You and Nikki left to drive down to your parents’ house two days before the game. You spent the night and picked up your sister before driving the two hours to your hotel. You get in around five o’clock and are ready to just sleep for the rest of the night. But you and Sam have to check into your rooms and get everything situated. You hear a loud noise coming from one of the conference rooms as you’re waiting to be checked in. You turn to look at the door trying to figure out what type of function could be going on that is somewhat noisy. The employee behind the desk looks up from the computer and apologizes for the noise and says he’ll ask them to be a little quieter.

“It’s no problem man, sounds like they’re having fun. Just let them be, we’re cool dude.” You say to assure him you aren’t mad at the noise. He smiles and nods his head at you and continues typing on his computer. You turn to look at the the door one more time before you leave towards the elevators, still trying to figure out who’s in there.

You’re on the fifth floor of the hotel, sharing the room with Nikki. Sam has a room to herself since she’s the oldest of the bunch. You all decide that laying down for a quick one-hour nap sounds like the best thing ever. So you set the alarm on your phone for 6:30, turn out the lights and jumped into the bed to get started on your nap.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

You wake up an hour later to the sound of your alarm going off. You reach over to to turn on the light while sitting up, before turning off your alarm. Looking over at Nikki proved your suspicion that she hadn’t woken up, despite the alarm blaring at the loudest possible setting it could be. You get up knowing that waking Nikki up would be somewhat of a struggle and you decide not to deal with her until after you pee and wake up a little more. Sam texts you while you’re washing your hands and asks if you and Nikki want to drive to the nearby mall to get a few things for the game tomorrow and maybe some food. You text back and tell her you’re down before walking back into the room to try and wake Nikki up so you’ll be on time to meet your sister in the lobby in thirty minutes.

It takes you twenty of your thirty minutes to get Nikki up. Sam just laughs at how disgruntled Nikki looks and how annoyed you look at her. While you’re walking to your car you notice a huge travel bus and you wonder what type of function would require such a big bus; you eventually decide that it must be some type of college team here for an away game since those are the types of busses you travel in when you go to away meets, and that would explain the noise in the conference room. You’re happy with yourself for presumably figuring out the mystery.

The drive to the mall is short and filled with music and laughter at your horrible dancing. Once you park its decided to eat at the Cheesecake Factory in the mall because everyone is starving, since the last meal you had was close to eleven o’clock in the morning while you were on the road. Dinner is a fun event, filled with laughter over Nikki’s jokes and you and Sam’s bickering. While waiting to pay you swear you see blonde hair like Ashlyn Harris’ but when you look again no one is there. You decide that the excitement of the game tomorrow is getting to you and is making you see things. You meet Sam and Nikki outside after paying and decide where to go next to get everything you guys need for the game tomorrow.

You all agree that Dick’s sporting goods should have everything you guys need. As your walking in you think you see a PDX hat that looked exactly like yours, but when you did a double take there was no one there. You shook it off again, thinking your excitement was getting to you. You, Nikki and Sam wandered the aisles looking for what you needed, a small plastic cooler, sunscreen, and bucket hats to wear during the game since it was going to be played outside. You wanted to get stadium chairs, for the three of you, that hook onto the bleachers and after some coercing Sam finally concedes into getting them. She did say you had to go get them though, but you readily agreed since you knew that they would save your but from becoming numb form sitting so long tomorrow. As you turned down the aisle that had all of the stadium necessities you saw someone you never would have thought to see at all, let alone ever see in a sporting goods store.

There she stood in all of her glory. Ashlyn freaking Harris right in front of you looking at the selection of stadium chairs as well. You froze in your shock staring right at her. But you must’ve let out a squeak when spotting her because the next thing you know she’s turning her head to look at you. She gives you a questioning look before sliding over so you can look at them too. You quickly shake yourself out of your stupor before apologizing.

“Sorry about that, I wasn’t expecting to see one of my favorite soccer players here. Or like at all ever outside of a game. And man this must be so much more awkward for you than it is me, because like I was totally just staring at you like a creeper. You must get that a lot. Cause like you’re one of the best dressed people I’ve ever seen. You look really good by the way and oh god I’m rambling this is so embarrassing.” You finally stop, bowing your head to stare a hole into the ground. You hear her chuckle at you before she speaks.

“It’s all good dude. No worries you can get a picture or something if you want.” She says turning to face you fully. You contemplate her offer before responding.

“Um yeah if that’s okay with you. I won’t like post it or anything, it’s just really awesome that I’m getting to meet you.” You finally respond to her offer, stopping yourself before you can continue on an embarrassing rant again.

“Oh no its alright if you post it, but it’d be nice if you don’t say where you saw us at if that’s cool with you?” she says while rubbing her neck sheepishly.

“Oh no problem at all dude, um is it cool if I get that picture now?” you ask before she can change her mind and leave. You walk over to her while pulling out your phone showing that you could do it now. She nods before motioning you over to stand next to you.

“Alright what face should we make; cause honestly I don’t think I can keep any sort of straight face.” You chuckle at yourself, while looking at her to gauge her opinion. “You decide, I’m good with whatever.” You finish saying hoping she’ll take your peace offering for making this so awkward in the first place. She looks at you a little oddly before responding.

“It’s your picture though?” she answers confused by my response.

“Well yeah obviously but I know you do stuff like this all the time but you don’t really get to choose what to do right? So you get to choose today since I was a weird rambling idiot.” You respond turning to face her.

“Ah okay, I guess. Um can we do a funny picture? I really like those but I don’t get to do them much.” She says after thinking on it for a minute.

“Yeah for sure dude. They’re my favorite too though.” You say smiling at her. You take a couple of pictures just being your goofy selves before you ask her the question that’s been burning in you since you first saw her. 

“So I really want to ask you a question but I don’t want to seem rude.” You start off with hoping she’ll say you can ask her anyway.

“Ask away dude.” She responds while chuckling. You smile, happy that she allowed the question.

“Why are you a Dick’s sporting goods store looking at stadium seats?” you ask her letting your curiosity shine through you question. She smiles while laughing a little bit before she answers you.

“Well I could ask you the same but I won’t. Tobin and I were bored waiting for Ali and Alex to finish shopping for clothes and we decided that we’d have more fun if we snuck away and looked at the cool stuff in here.” She replies while shaking her head at her and Tobin’s antics. It isn’t until right then that you process just who Ashlyn said she was hanging out with. Tobin Heath. Like the Tobin Heath. The very same Tobin Heath that you have the biggest crush on. You don’t want to weird her out with your fangirling so you play it cool.

“Oh that’s nice dude. So I just gotta ask another question and again it might sound weird,” you say while holding your hands up in surrender showing you mean no harm, “but can I see some of your tattoos? I have some and I always noticed how intricate and detailed yours are. So I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?” you ask while chuckling at how grade school that sounds hoping that she’ll agree to your weird request. She looks at you like you have two heads for a second before busting out laughing. 

“I’m sorry,” she struggles to get out in between her laughter, “but that was probably one of the weirdest requests I’ve ever gotten.” She finally gets out before speaking more calmly this time. “Yeah sure dude how about the ones on my arm since they’re the easiest to see?” she concedes while looking at you to see if you’re cool with that. You nod your head excited to see the work, you had always admired her tattoos and wanted to know the name of the artist so that you could maybe check out their work.

She rolls up the sleeve of her hoodie so that you can see the amazing work there. You admire her tattoos for a while before looking up at her and asking if she’d still like to see yours. She nods before saying something to you.

“You made a promise man, you’ve seen mine now you gotta show me yours.” She says while giggling to herself. You giggle with her because of the absurdity of the whole situation.

“Well mine aren’t as intricate as yours, they’re mostly writing but my angel wings are my pride and joy.” You warn her before unzipping the hoodie you have on and first turning to the side so she can see said angel wings then quickly lifting up your sports bra just a little bit to show her the tattoo there before finally turning to the other side to show her your poem tattoo.

She takes her time examining them before nodding her head to signal to you that she’s done looking. You zip your hoodie back up before looking up to meet her eyes, which seem to be far away from you, like she’s in deep thought. She snaps out of it before asking you a question.

“Why those tattoos?” the question throws you a little. No one other than Nikki has questioned them, all of the girls on the swim team just accepted them and moved on. Nikki was the only one to want to know why you chose the tattoos you did. You know it will take time to give a good answer so you sit down on the bottom of the shelf display and pat the space next to you asking her to join me before trying to formulate an answer.

“Well each one has a story. My angel wings are for my great grandmother who passed away two years ago. I was very close to her and I would talk to her about my passion which is history and since she was so old and having lived through all of these time periods she could give me a perspective that the textbooks just don’t have you know?” you say not really expecting her to answer but she nods anyways showing she’s listening.

“She had a lot of problems towards the end but she never gave up so that’s why the life is a beautiful struggle is there. Um the Harry Potter quote is a tattoo I got with my sister, she has the other half of the saying. It was something we really bonded over and I can remember us getting into debates about this and that and what would be possible and what wouldn’t be in the HP universe. She’s only three years older than me so it was really easy to connect over that shared love.” You chuckle a bit before powering onto the last of your tattoos.

“And the last one is a Robert Frost poem. My mom’s an English teacher so it was something we bonded over. I used to hate poetry when I was younger but when she made me read The Outsiders in the sixth grade this poem just really stuck for me, so it’s my tribute to her.” You finish with a smile before you hear someone calling for Ashlyn.

She either doesn’t hear them or doesn’t acknowledge them and continues to talk with you.

“Wow dude, your kinda like me where everything has a meaning to me. I haven’t met anyone quite like you, ya know?” she says before saying something that leaves you speechless for a second. “You and Tobin would get along great, why don’t you stay here with me and wait until she finds us I wanna introduce you two.”

“Oh yeah for sure dude!” you exclaim before continuing to visit, she questions how you have such great abs and you laugh inwardly before replying that you got them from swimming and you go on to explain that you swim for the University of Oregon and how it’s your last year and you’re hopefully looking at making the Olympic team on the next cycle.

She then goes on to ask you about your college experience and you explain how you and Nikki met and how terrified you were to come out to her. Nikki’s response to your coming out gets a laugh out of Ashlyn before she questions if you and Nikki are together. You gag a little before explaining that you just see her as another sister and how you aren’t her type at all. This stuns Ashlyn a little bit because admittedly you are very beautiful. Standing tall with wavy dark brown hair with blue, green or grey, eyes depending on the lighting; you could be considered anyone’s wet dream. As she goes to respond you hear someone calling her name on the aisle next to the one you’ve camped out in for a good thirty minutes, you listen to the person get closer before they finally round the corner and she’s beautiful. Standing there with her hair down, wearing a snapback in just shorts and a hoodie is Tobin Heath in all of her ethereal glory.

You’re sure you look like a fish with how your mouth is gaping open at the site of her. She thankfully speaks before you can make any more of a fool of yourself.

“Dude where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Oh you who’s this? I didn’t know you knew anyone from Northern Cali dude. Hi I’m Tobin it’s nice to meet you.” 

You’re so dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what'd ya think? Let me know! Have a good day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shane meets her idols.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey sorry for the long stretch between chapters. I had a lot going on with prom and finals, but i can now say I have finished high school. Welp have fun and I hope you enjoy!

You stood there just staring for a second before Ashlyn elbowed you in the ribs to snap you out of it. She gave you a look that said say something before you embarrass yourself. You took a deep breath, to steady yourself, as you gathered your courage to say something back.

“Hi I’m Shane, it’s really nice to meet you.” You finally spit out after not saying anything for a good minute. Tobin smiled her big contagious smile that could light up a whole room before turning back to Ashlyn.

“Why didn’t you answer me when I called you man?” she asked looking puzzled as to why she was ignored. Ashlyn chuckled to herself before answering.

“Shane and I got distracted getting to know each other,” she explained while throwing an arm around you before continuing her explanation, “we just met and were bonding over our shared loved of tattoos and all things dorky.” She finished, throwing in a cheesy grin for good measure. She didn’t give Tobin time to respond before continuing her explanation.

“Dude you’d be great friend, she loves Harry Potter as much as you do and seems to love her family as much as well and she looks like a workout nut like you too but she swims, which isn’t as cool as us but she’s looking to get into the next Olympic cycle.” She rambled trying to explain her excitement over a stranger. 

Tobin smiled at how excited Ashlyn was before turning to look at you, seeming to analyze you before speaking to you.

“Hey that’s so cool! Who’s your favorite character?” she asked while moving to sit across from you and Ashlyn. This startled you out of your Tobin induced haze and made it easy for you to focus, besides Tobin Harry Potter was one of your favorite things to talk about. 

“Well that’s hard because there are so many diverse characters but I’d probably have to say my favorite is Hermione or Harry. They’re kind of tied.” You answered starting to get into the conversation now. 

“Yeah I could see that, they’re very likeable characters. Luna is my favorite though, she’s a little less popular but I just like the way she looks at the world you know?” she finished and you realized that yeah you could totally relate to that. But then again you would probably agree to anything just to keep hearing her voice. 

God you were such a nerd. She was the prettiest person you had ever seen. You hoped that your crush wasn’t so obvious, but you knew that both her and Ashlyn were pretty observant people. You tuned back into what Tobin was talking about hoping you didn’t miss that much.

“I know Luna wasn’t in all of the books but the books she was in I just love how she’s written.” Tobin finished with a little chuckle before she continued asking you about both of your favorite book series. “How many times have you read the whole series?” she asked, looking excited and joyful to be talking about her favorite subjects besides soccer. 

You took a moment to remember how and when you started reading the books before answering her. 

“Well its actually kind of a funny story,” you say with a small giggle before finishing your thoughts, “I watched some of the movies first before I read the series, and I wanted to see how it all ended so I read the Deathly Hallows book first and then I read the rest backwards from there. Which I admit was a little confusing, but to help understand a little better I then read them forwards.” You finish laughing at how weird you were.

Both Ashlyn and Tobin laugh at your admittedly weird way of starting the series. Before stopping and waiting for you to continue your explanation. You smile not actually believing that you’re getting to talk to your crush and your role model. You shake your head and then continued.

“So besides my kind of weird start to reading the series I think I’ve read the series about four or five times, it’s hard to tell for sure though because sometimes I just reread passages or my favorite book and not the whole series start to finish you know?” you finish smiling at both of them as they let your words sink in.

Tobin smiles and both continue questioning each other on the subtleties of your favorite series. You and Tobin are so engrossed on your debate that you both forget Ashlyn was there. You debate HP for a while before moving onto different topics that you both have interests in; family, and your respective sports (here Tobin can’t say much about swimming but you guys have fun talking about soccer). 

You don’t realize how much time has gone by until Alex and Ali walk up looking for Tobin and Ashlyn, while you and Tobin were debating whether or not dementors could be killed or if the wizards were just too scared to try. They look at you and Tobin a little oddly but neither of you give it any thought, being so engaged into your debate you hardly notice they’ve shown up. The only reason you realize you’re sitting in the presence of the best right back in the world and the face of US soccer is because Ashlyn gets up and gives Ali a kiss and hugging her before tensing up realizing that they aren’t alone with trusted friends.

You see both of them tense up and Alex look uncertainly at you, but it’s hard to keep your attention with probably the most adorable person sitting in front of you ranting about how wizards were probably too lazy to try and kill them. You smile to yourself before you try to find a good place to jump into Tobin’s rant and address the awkwardness that’s just radiating off the rest of the group. 

Tobin finally takes a breath when she notices who has found you guys. She smiles before introducing you to two of the most famous women’s athletes in the world.

“Shane I want you to meet the face of US women’s soccer and the best right back in the world, Alex Morgan-Carrosco and Ali Krieger.” She finishes off her introduction with a goofy looking smile, the one that makes her eyes scrunch up and just radiates happiness from every pore. You swoon a little bit before regaining your barring’s and introducing yourself.

“Hi its really nice to meet y’all,” you say and smile before continuing, “I’m Shane Eaton.” You finish with a smile glad that you didn’t stumble over your words.

They smile and introducing themselves before asking the question that’s probably burning in their minds.

“How’d did you guys meet? And how did the conversation turn to Harry Potter?” Alex asks looking a little bewildered that both Ashlyn and Tobin looked so comfortable with you. 

Both Tobin and Ashlyn chuckle at how weird the situation might look to them. Ashlyn answers the question before either Alex can become too impatient.

“Well you know hoe me and Tobin got bored waiting for you guys to finish shopping?” she asks rhetorically before continuing without waiting for an answer, “well we decided that we could look at stuff in here to entertain ourselves, Tobin wandered off like always but I was looking at these stadium seats because you know your mom hates the seats where we play Als and I thought we could get one as a gift for her and well as I was browsing Shane here walked up and we got to talking about stuff and connected over our shared interest in tattoos and she has some Harry Potter tattoos and then Tobin came back and it was over from there.” She finished with a laugh at how weird the whole situation was.

You notice Ali still looks uncomfortable even after Ashlyn’s explanation so you rush to reassure them that you aren’t some weirdo who’s going to broadcast the Krashlyn is in fact real.

“Yeah I admit it, I’m a sucker for a good conversation about Harry Potter. It drove my ex wild that I could spend hours talking about it.” You stop and chuckle but before you can continue Alex cuts you off to ask a question.

“He didn’t like it or what?” she asks while she giggles, because she can relate to basically talking to a brick wall when Tobin gets immersed into all things Harry Potter. 

“Well she thought it was all stupid kid stuff. Probably why we didn’t last long.” You finish saying the last bit more to yourself.

You don’t see Ali’s somewhat relieved sigh while Ashlyn just grins bigger, or Alex’s smile before she shoots a glance at Tobin catching her hopeful look. You shake off the memories turning back to the women in front of you determined to put them at ease. 

“Oh and if y’all want me to like forget that Ali and you Ashlyn were here, it’s no problem I won’t even post the picture dude. Scouts honor!” you say while smiling your dimpled grin.

Both Alex and Tobin look at you a little oddly, while Ali just looks somewhat relieved that you won’t out them to the world. Ashlyn just smiles knowing she could count on your keeping their secret.

“That’s why I let her look at my tattoos, she’s pretty awesome guys! And guess what she swims and has the best abs I’ve ever seen and she’s trying for the next Olympic cycle.” Ashlyn finishes a little out of breath excited over her new friendship.

Ali looks a little affronted at the abs comment while both Tobin and Alex look intrigued and confused as to why Ashlyn would see your abs in the baggy zip up hoddie you had on.

“Why have you seen her abs Ash?’ Ali asks looking a little dangerous as she glares at the both of you. It scares you a little bit so you rush to explain.

“I said she could look at my tattoos if she showed me hers and well she did so I held up my end of the bargain, and all of my tattoos are on my ribs or around there.” You rush out all in one breath. Ali’s glare softens before she becomes inquisitive again.

“Okay show us then. I wanna see the best abs ever.” She demands looking at Ashlyn out of the corner of her eye, somewhat pissed that she said yours were better than hers.

You look to Ashlyn for some help, but she looks scared and just nods her head for you to do it seeing as Alex agrees with Ali, there was no way you were getting out of this. Finally, you nod your consent before unzipping your hoodie to show them how well swimming has defined your body.

Alex gives a low appreciative whistle when she sees them, Ali’s face loses the glare and in turn looks a little amazed while Tobin’s eyes just bug out of her head and her mouth drops open just a tad. Ashlyn chuckles at their reactions, she nods her head as if to say yeah that’s what I did before motioning you to come closer to them.

You take a step forward still wanting to give them their space. As soon as you come to a complete stop Alex’s hand reaches out to touch your stomach as if to make sure you’re real. 

“Damn I didn’t know this kind of definition was possible, like dude give me your workout regime, I want to look like this.” She says with a snicker.

You giggle at their reactions before zipping your jacket back up, you feel your phone vibrate and move to check it. You see its Sammy asking where you disappeared to. You look up with an apologetic look on your face before explain who texted you.

“Sorry guys it’s my sister and she doesn’t know where I went I was supposed to meet them at the check-out area like 45 minutes ago.” You say to them while texting Sammy back saying that you got held up and would be there soon.

They all nod understanding how worried siblings can be. They’re silent for a moment before Ashlyn and Alex look at each other and come up with a plan to be able to keep talking to you. (Ashlyn because she thought you were cool, but Alex say how Tobin seemed to have a puppy crush on you.) 

“Hey dude its cool if you gotta go, but maybe I could get your number so we can bounce ideas about that new tattoos you were thinking of.” Ashlyn said while pulling out her phone.

You look up from your text surprised that she would offer that, considering your just some random that they barely know. But you see how hopeful all four of them look (Ali having picked up on the plan as soon as Ashlyn started speaking, while Tobin just looked like a puppy.)

“Are you sure dude like I won’t give your number out but isn’t it just safer for you guys I mean to not offer that?” you question wanting to make sure they weren’t going to regret their offer.

“Yeah dude I’m sure, worst comes to worst I can just block you or change my number.” Ashlyn says definitively.

You still don’t feel 100% comfortable with the situation so you come up with a compromise that would make you feel better about her risk. 

“Hey how about I give you my skype stuff so you don’t have to give me your number we can message and stuff on there. It minimizes your risks but still meets the needs.” You suggest smiling at your solution.

While makes all four of them chuckle at how attentive and conscientious you’re being of their safety. It makes Alex and Ali melt a little at how sweet you’re being, trying not to take advantage of them.

“Alright deal.” Ashlyn decides something is better than nothing. She hopes that this’ll allow you guys to be friends, even she can’t fault your logic and it makes her smile. She was right about you, you’re one of the good ones she can trust.

You give them all of your info that they’d need in order to contact you. It’s getting late and you know that they’ll have curfew soon since it’s a game night. 

“Hey its getting late can I buy my stuff really quick and then walk you guys to your van to make sure you all get out of here okay?” you ask while scratching the back of your neck, a nervous habit you’ve never been able to shake.

If it’s even possible Ali and Alex melt even further into the ground, Ashlyn just smiles and nods, while Tobin still has the puppy look on her face. 

“Okay cool, let me just grab three of these for the game tomorrow and we’ll be good to go.” You say with your dimpled smile happy that you get to spend a little more time with some awesome people.

YOU pay for the chairs before walking out into the parking lot to find their van. As you’re walking Ashlyn asks a question that makes all four of them smile.

“Hey Shane is it cool if I share your skype stuff with these three freaks? You’re pretty awesome and I know Tobin will want to talk Harry Potter, while these two lovely ladies will want to know your workout regime.” She says looking hopeful.

You smile and nod, missing the way all four of them light up at your agreement, before continuing your walk to find their van. You find it soon enough and luckily it isn’t far from where your car is. You smile at all of them before saying goodbye and good luck at the game tomorrow before walking away to meet your sister and an impatient Nikki.

“Dude what took you so long? You were MIA for an hour!” Nikki demands.

You smile and just shrug not wanting to share your experience for a little while.

Man you had it bad, but you wouldn’t want it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How'd you like it? Let me know! And as always have a good day!


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shane gets a pleasant surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow how about Tobin tonight guys? All mistakes are my own. Any comments, let me know. Enjoy!

On the short ride back to the hotel your phone gets a notification. You look down to see what it is and it puts a smile on your face. It’s a new request from skype to be friends with Ashlyn. You quickly accept it giddy, that you actually just met some of your idols.

Sam soon notices you looking down at your phone and smiling like an idiot and decides to call you on it.

“What’s got you looking at your phone and smiling like a fifth grader who just kissed their first crush?” Sam asked navigating back across the street to the hotel.

You blush heavily while looking up at her to meet her green eyes in the rearview mirror. You can see her smirk from your spot in the back seat. You avoid answering for as long as you can, wanting to keep the moment to yourself for just a little while longer. You’re saved from answering as you guys pull up to the hotel. You take your time getting out of the car and standing up outside. As you’re turning around after gathering your things you see a van pulling up a few spaces down from where you’re parked.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

The van looks vaguely familiar now that you think about it. It strikes you as odd but then you see who steps out of the car. Its Ashlyn, Ali, Alex, and Tobin gathering their things from the team van. You couldn’t believe it, you were staying at the same hotel as them and you never even knew.

It makes you smile before you jog over to them, ignoring the calls of your sister and Nikki. They hear your steps as you jog over to surprise them with your presence. Before any of them turn around to see its you Alex says something that makes you laugh at how celebrity like it is.

“I’m sorry kid were running late; we can’t stop for pictures or anything. Maybe tomorrow after breakfast?” she states before turning around and stopping short when she sees its you.

Her sudden silence makes the rest of the soccer players turn around to see what made the great Alex Morgan lose her words. As the girls turn around you can see all of them smile. You don’t notice the way Tobin lights or how Ali nudges Ashlyn then motions between the two of you with her head. 

“Well damn I was hoping to get autographs and pictures, the whole shebang ya know?” you say sarcastically with a dopey smile. They all laugh at how ridiculous you are before Ashlyn asks what you’re doing here.

“It appears we’re staying at the same hotel!” you say excitedly, happy that you get to spend more time with people that are beginning to look like great friends. This gets a smile out of all the soccer players, Tobin’s you notice is a little bit bigger than her normal giddy grin.

“Dude no way!” Ashlyn exclaims, “That’s so cool! I can’t believe it.” She finishes grinning while looking at the girls standing next to her. All of them nod in agreement before turning back to you. This causes you to smile before speaking to them.

“Hey how about I help Ashlyn carry you bags inside so we can make your curfew?” You suggest. They all agree fairly quickly so you walk towards her and pick up half of the bags before motioning them towards the hotel.

It’s a short walk to the doors and soon you’re walking into the well-lit lobby, that was fairly empty, before heading towards the elevators. Tobin gets there first and presses the call button. The wait is short, only a minute long, and you’re pilling into the elevator with some of the best soccer players in the world. You can’t believe your luck. The ride is mostly silent before Tobin turns to you to ask you a question.

“Hey…um we were kinda… I guess wondering …if you’d… I don’t know want to hang out… for a bit with us?” she stumbles over her request but you’ve never seen anything more adorable. You take the time to look over her and the rest of the girls who look very hopeful.

“Yeah but what time do you guys need to go to sleep, can’t have the superstars falling asleep at tomorrow’s game!” you say with a chuckle. Ali is the one to answer you, after checking their schedule her phone.

“Umm lights out is at midnight. We don’t have breakfast until about 9 o’clock. You can stay and we can watch a couple of movies, maybe paint our nails and just get to know each other!” she exclaims with her nose crinkling grin, you can definitely understand why Ashlyn loves her, she’s beautiful. But she just doesn’t compare to Tobin, who has one of her dopey smiles on her face while she’s giggling like a kindergartener. It makes you swoon because you’ve never seen anyone who can look this beautiful in just shorts, a t-shirt and snapback. You think if you weren’t already crushing on her, you would have been by the end of the night.

“Yeah that sounds like fun! Are you sure y’all won’t get into trouble with your coach?” you ask once again, just wanting to make sure they’re all good. They smile at how cute you are before deciding that Alex and Tobin would host the impromptu movie marathon in their room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Everyone exits the elevator on the sixth floor, just one above yours and it’s a quick walk from there, with their room being only four doors down from the elevator. Alex unlocks the door and motions everyone inside. You look around noticing that it’s a nice room, by hotel standards, with two queen sized beds a nightstand with a lamp in between them. The room itself is bigger than yours you observe, but hey you guess it’s a perk that comes with playing for the national team. You look around trying to get a feel for the room. As you browse the girls settle in while Tobin and Ali look for a movie. There’s only one bed free so you move to sit near the headboard while taking out your phone to text your sister and Nikki that you won’t be back to the room until late.

Your sister texts back saying okay and that they won’t wait up for you. You smile, before switching over to Instagram and looking at your feed. You notice that you have some notifications of people wanting to follow you. It doesn’t strike you as odd, because during the school year multiple drunk frat boys like to try their luck with getting into your pants, you look to see who it is before you deny their requests, you don’t want to keep getting weird messages in your dm’s- it happened once and you decided never again. The names pop up and they make a smile stretch across your face; there lined up four in a row is Ali, Ashlyn, Alex, and Tobin waiting for your approval to start following you. You go through each one and approve them, as you do you look up and see Alex and Ashlyn look a little sad. You think you know what the problem is but before you can speak Tobin and Ali have decided on the first movie.

Tobin plops down next to you on the bed as Ali hooks up someone’s laptop, you think Alex’s, to the tv so that you can watch the movies. The tv comes to life and the title screen pops up. You see that they picked Man of the House. It makes you smile, the movie being one of your favorites. Someone pushes play and the opening credits start, but before the movie starts you want to address what’s bugging all of them- you noticed that both Ali and Tobin look sad as well after they checked their phones- as if all four were waiting for something.

“You guys know I already follow all of you right?” you ask gently, not wanting to offend them. All four heads snap to you and it’s as if you can see the weight lift off of their shoulders.

“Like what kind of a fan would I be if I didn’t follow my idols on any social media?” you follow up with which earns you a chuckle. They nod their acceptance as everyone settles in to watch the movie, with you and Tobin sharing one bed with the others on what you assume is Alex’s bed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The movie is as good as you remember it, and an hour and a half later it comes to an end. A collective decision is reached that now would be the best time as any to get to know each other better. Alex suggests twenty questions and you agree but state your concerns.

“Not to sound too creepy but I’ve been following all of you for a while so I know a lot about you guys, like not everything but a good portion.” You ramble on, but they assure you that they’ll still answer even if you know their answer.

You all decide to just go in a circle with one of them asking you a question before you in turn ask them questions. Alex says she wants to start and the others agree easily, with you nodding your consent. Then you’re thrown into the proverbial gauntlet that is the national team trying to get to know you.

“So are you in a relationship? And if the answer is no when was your last one?” Alex starts off with, it’s easy enough to answer- since you’re never on to turn away from your past relationships (even if they fail).

“No I’m single right now,” you reply before continuing on with the second part of the question, “Um and I guess my last girlfriend was a year or two ago.” You finish easily, smiling and trying to think of a question of your own.

“Hm what’s the best place you’ve ever traveled to?” you ask looking to the four sitting across from you. They take a little time before answering you.

“Well for me probably Paris or Portland.” Tobin decides first, nodding to herself decisively before looking to the other three.

“I think me and Ali can agree on Germany.” Ashlyn follows up while looking at Ali to see that she does in fact concur, Ali agrees with a simple smile and a nod of her head. You turn to Alex as she’s the only one yet to answer.

“That’s a hard one but probably Hawaii.” Alex finally decides before she looks to Tobin, waiting for her to ask you her question. She takes a couple of minutes thinking about what to ask before asking.

“What’s your major at Oregon?” you almost miss the question, since you were too busy staring at her and wondering how she could be so pretty. Fortunately for you, you do catch the question, and you wonder how they’ll react to your major.

“Well I’m actually a double major, the first is emergency medical technician. And the second is is teaching.” You inform them with a smile. It ends up being a funny scene, with all of their mouths having dropped and their faces showing their surprise.

“Wait seriously dude?” Ashlyn asks, still looking sort of off kilter.

“Yup. I wanna be a paramedic if I can’t make the Olympic swimming team, and then maybe later on a history teacher.” You clarify for them.

“That’s so awesome, where are you going to try and get a job after graduation?’” Ali questions with a smile on her face.

“I’m actually looking into Portland pretty hard. Its big enough to not be too quiet but it’s not such a big city that I’m overwhelmed you know?” you answer before quickly turning back to asking them your questions.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
The game continues for a while, with you learning that Alex and her husband are thinking of getting a dog soon, that Ali and Ashlyn had recently celebrated their four-year anniversary, and that Tobin hadn’t been in a relationship for about a year and a half.

In turn the national team players learned quite a bit about you, what tattoos your thinking of adding next, what you look for in a relationship (which was Tobin almost to a tee embarrassingly enough), and how you got into swimming as a kid.

Just talking with them as you would any new friend you’re trying to get to know is a lot of fun for you. After the game everyone decides it would be nice to watch another movie. This time Ashlyn and Alex pick what to watch, while you sit back and relax. It’s getting hard for you get comfortable because you’re overheating in your jacket. But you can’t take it off since you don’t have a shirt on underneath. Tobin eventually sees you fidgeting and asks what’s wrong. 

“Sorry I’m just dying in this hoodie. Y’all are keeping the room really hot.” You respond with a sheepish shrug of your shoulders. Tobin just shakes her head with a smile before asking the obvious question.

“Why don’t you just take off your jacket?” she says with a small grin that seems to be directed at you more and more.

“Well I don’t have a shirt on underneath and I don’t think we’ve reached the level of friendship where I can be half naked without it being weird.” You respond shaking you head at the whole situation. Tobin finally seems to get your dilemma and seems to think she has a solution with the way her eyes light up.

“You can borrow one of my shirts if you want?” she offers looking shyly at you through her eyelashes and god you’ve never seen anything as sexy as that look.

“Yeah that’d be great thanks.” You agree easily, (melting on the inside because goddamn it Tobin you can't do things like that to me), because come on this is like a dream come true.

She gets up off the bed and walks to the corner where her suitcase is sitting before rummaging around for a t-shirt. She doesn’t take long and soon she’s turning around and walking back to her bed to hand you an old Portland Thorns practice shirt. You take the shirt with just a small smile before you stand up and unzip your hoodie and take it off to put on the much cooler t-shirt. But before you can get the shirt on Ali comments on how nice your tattoos are. 

“Thanks they mean a lot to me, so I like to take care of them.” You say casually before Alex jumps into the conversation since she and Ashlyn had finally finished looking for a movie.

“Hey that reminds me you seriously need to tell us what your work outs are like because you look like a goddess.” Alex cuts. It makes you laugh pretty hard before responding to her weird demand.

“Sure where’s the little hotel notepad I’ll write it down for you guys.” You reply as you’re putting on Tobin’s shirt, and Ashlyn hands you the notepad and a pen. You sit back down on the bed scooting against the headboard before getting to work writing down what you do to stay in shape.

It ends up taking you three of the little pages from the notepad to write down your work out in detail so that they can follow it if they want. As you finish you notice they started the movie, Pitch Perfect, and that it’s about ten minutes in; so you rip out the pages and hand them to Tobin so she can set them on the nightstand since she’s closer. You settle back in to watch the movie with your new friends. And man you can’t believe your luck.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

At some point you fell asleep during the movie and the girls didn’t have the heart to wake you up since you were sleeping so hard so they just turn out the lights and make your small get together into a sleep over. Alex sets her alarm for 7:00 the next morning. And climbs into her bed with Ashlyn and Ali, who’re cuddled up on the farthest side of the bed. The last person to get into bed is Tobin, who shuts out all of the lights and hops into bed with you. The last vague thought you have before you fall deeply asleep is that it feels nice to have her next to you.

For the first time in a couple of weeks you slept great, and you think it has to do with the girl sleeping next to you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how was it? Let me know with suggestions or just any questions you have. As always have a good day!


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shane gets sweaty. Tobin has heart eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all here's chapter five. All mistakes are my own and such. I hope you enjoy!

You’re woken up by an alarm blaring in the early morning silence. You try and reach over, to turn it off, but that’s when you notice a weight on your chest. So you look down to see what it is. What you see makes a huge smile come to your face. Tobin is still fast asleep, cuddled into your side with her head on your chest. 

You decide that its best to not move, not wanting to wake her up. Luckily for you it seems that the alarm has woken up one of the other three girls. You turn your head to see which one it is, its Alex, and you watch from your position trapped under Tobin as she gets up to turn off the alarm. The other three soccer players still seem to be deeply asleep though. Alex notices your awake, (and your Tobin situation), which cause her to smile at the sight of Tobin curled around you like a koala. You speak before she can comment on it though.

“Why didn’t you guys wake me last night?” you ask with a slight frown, thinking you messed up their plans for the night. Alex just shakes her head before answering.

“You looked like you could use the rest, and we didn’t mind you staying. We decided it would be fun to just make it a sleep over.” She answers you while looking around the room. 

You nod still not moving from your place under Tobin. You look down at her for a while before you hear a throat clear, it knocks you out of your stupor and causes you to look up to find where the noise came from.

When you look up you see that Ali and Ashlyn have woken up and are staring at you with their eyebrows raised. Alex just smirks at your situation from where she is picking out her clothes for the day. You get somewhat uncomfortable with both women staring at you so you clear your throat and shift in bed some, which causes Tobin to wake up some.

They see that Tobin is in between sleeping and waking up so they decide to tease her about how she snuggled up to you.

“Is Shane comfy there Toby?” Ashlyn asks her before she can fully wake up, but you can can tell she heard the question by how she tenses in your arms before she shoots up off of you looking like a baby deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. 

You think she looks beautiful in the morning with her bed head, sleepy eyes, and drool on the corner of her mouth.

“I uh what?” Tobin stutters out looking embarrassed and utterly confused. God can this girl be any more adorable you think.

“It’s cool, I forgot how nice it is to cuddle with someone.” You jump in to save her from further embarrassment. She smiles down at you, grateful for your intervention. You smile back before looking at your phone to see what time it is.

You see that it’s about 7:30. The soccer stars have all gotten up and are now either shuffling around to find clothes (Tobin) or are sitting and talking to each other. You sit up in bed and stretch out some, trying to shake out the lingering soreness from yesterday’s drive. You decide the perfect remedy would be a short work out to get your muscles going and to work up a sweat. You nod to yourself, setting up your plan in your head, before turning to your new friends.

“Hey guys I better get going- I need to change, get a small breakfast and do a short workout. I missed mine yesterday. And I need to check in with my sister and my friend, they might be worried that I didn’t come back to the room last night.” You say as you stand and stretch your arms behind your back.

You hear a gag and look up to see what happened, not stopping your arm stretches.

“Dude how do your arms bend that far back?” Alex asks with a slightly green tinge to her complexion. You laugh at their reactions before answering.

“Um stretching a lot. Sorry I forget that that always freaks people out if they haven’t seen it before.” You reply apologetically. They nod in response before Ali perks up and asks you a question.

“Are you going to be doing some of your regular work out?” you smile and nod before inviting them to come along if they want to.

But you put your foot down on them participating though, (Ali wanted in), stating that they need to conserve their energy for the game tonight. They agree easily enough and you tell them that you’ll come back to get them in about 15 minutes.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

You head to your room and change quickly- while leaving a note for Nikki to tell her where you are before you go back to the girl’s room. The elevator ride back to the team’s floor is quick and ten minutes later you’re knocking on Alex and Tobin’s door. Its Tobin who answers the door, wearing a huge smile on her face. She was wearing her USA travel sweat suit but with her wild feminist t-shirt on underneath her jacket. She looks adorable, with the childlike excitement of game day finally setting in.

You smile before speaking, as the remaining soccer players line up behind Tobin.

“You guys ready to go?” you ask looking over all of them. Alex is the one to answer you.

“Yeah let’s head out.” She replies while grabbing her room key and phone. Everyone looks ready to go so you lead them towards the elevator. Once inside the elevator you remember to ask them a quick question.

“Hey is it okay if I go get a small breakfast before starting? I don’t like working out if I haven’t eaten anything that day.” You ask, explaining your reasoning to them.

“Sure, we can steal some fruit to hold us until our team breakfast starts.” Ali answers with a sleepy looking smile. 

You smile before stepping off the elevator; heading straight towards the small area the hotel has for breakfast. You grab a couple of things before getting the girls and heading for the gym the hotel had for guest use. You eat quickly before starting a short warmup. You decide that the best workout for today would be cardio with a little bit of light lifting would probably suffice.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After your warmup you turn to see where the girls have gotten to and you see that they’re just lounging on the unused equipment in the room. Deciding that the treadmill would be a good place to start your cardio. You hop on and start out reasonably slow, before working up to a faster pace. You don’t run for long only 15 minutes, but you did run a little less than three miles. Glad you haven’t lost much stamina you start on the elliptical. Again your work here is short only about ten minutes. Here you don’t start as slow, but you do work up into a comfortably challenging pace before stopping. Your again pleased to see that you went pretty far, about two miles. You determine that the best way to end this short cardio session is some work on the stair stepper. You think for a second and eventually conclude that about ten flights would be a good way to finish. About ten to twelve minutes later you’re done and by this time your sweating pretty hard and you think it’d be best if you took your shirt off; to both cool you down (Or to catch Tobin’s eye, but you’d never admit to that).

As you’re done taking off your shirt you turn and face the girls who are all watching you extremely close looking somewhat impressed. 

“Dude you have some serious stamina.” Ashlyn says to fill the silence. You chuckle while walking over to your pile of stuff to drop off your shirt before turning around to answer her statement.

“Yeah, swimming requires a lot. I noticed in high school that by both building up my air intake by running and swimming it helped my times a lot during those long meets. I’d never have the drop offs the other girls would have once they got tired, so I continued it into college and even got my coach to do more running and cardio work outside of the pool because it helped me transition from high school to college competition so much.” You explain while taking a few pulls from your water bottle to stay hydrated.

The girls nod but don’t say anything so you take this as a cue to go back to working out. Since you don’t want to be sore for the game tonight you choose to do a lighter load of your favorite lifts, starting with some squats. Seeing as you have a few of the most physically fit women in sports watching you, you decide to show off just a little on these. You plan to work up to your max. Seeing as you don’t want to get hurt you ask on of the girls to spot you- just to be safe. Tobin volunteers first but then sees how much weight you’re putting on the bar and she decides that Ashlyn is probably better suited for the job. You think that matching your weight of 165lbs is a good place to start. You do five reps but it feels like child’s play so you decide to fuck with the girls a little and double the weight. The girls look slightly alarmed but they seem to trust you to know your boundaries. 

You do another five reps and it’s a little harder but it’s not your max so you handle it well. You max out on your last squat set and add 45lbs to each side. By now the girls look impressed and it makes you smirk a little bit. You do three reps at your max weight before racking the bar and putting all of the weights back where they go. You do a couple more exercises before going over to see what time it is and your phone says 8:30. Deciding that after one more lift you should be good to call it a day.

You finish up your last lift and see its only 8:40 and smile glad that you didn’t make the girls late, before turning to talk to them. 

“Well I think I’m good for today. What’d you guys think?” you ask while sipping on your water.

“That was a short day for you?” Ali asks looking at you a little weirdly. You nod and smile at her before replying.

“Yeah I usually do way more that’s why I consider it short.” You answer looking at all of them before slipping your shirt back on, missing the way Tobin frowns just a bit.

“Well no wonder you’re in such great shape. I mean we do stuff like that but on a little bigger scale. I wonder what we’d look like if we follow her regime for a little while?” Tobin says with a faraway look in her eyes. The others smirk at her before turning back to you.

“Probably like angels.” You say with a cheesy smile. The girls laugh at your bad flirting as you gather all of your things before once again leading the girls, this time towards the conference room that you heard them in the day before.

“Well here’s your stop guys.” You say with a small grin. “Have a good and healthy breakfast to fuel up. I’ll see you guys later at the game. But right now I really need a shower.” You finish with a small giggle tugging your sweaty shirt away from your body for emphasis. 

“Sounds good. Hey we forgot to ask where you’re sitting tonight at the game?” Ashlyn questions with a smirk on her face. 

“The section just to the right, if you’re looking at where your bench is. Front row too” You say smoothly. They nod before giving you a small wave and then turning around to head into the conference room. Tobin and Alex are the last to remain standing outside both giving you giddy looking smiles (though Alex’s is more restrained). Its Alex that finally pulls Tobin into the room shooting you one last wave with a see you later over her shoulder just as the door to the room closes.

You grin as you walk to the elevators to head back up to your room. Not really believing that the past 16 hours had actually happened. You’re so grateful that you accidentally ran into Ashlyn yesterday, and you couldn’t wait to see where these friendships went.Either way, you were definitely falling for the goofy nutmegging extraordinaire midfielder that had an amazing jaw line.

But to be honest you didn’t want it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was it? I love to hear your feedback! The next chapter is the game and afterwards so stay tuned! Have a good day!


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The game and after the game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go! I hope you enjoy!

You spend the rest of the morning and afternoon with Sammy and Nikki. You all had breakfast at the hotel after you went up to your room showered and got ready for the day. It was a nice relaxing morning were you just had fun with your sister and your best friend.

Lunch was a quiet affair with the three of you just enjoying your time together. You and Nikki didn’t get to see your sister as much as you guys would like so any time spent together was always special. The remaining time before you had to head out for the game was spent playing monop deal in your room and the last hour before you head out to see the girls warm up is spent getting everything ready to just enjoy the game.

You leave for the stadium about an hour and a half before the game is set to start. The drive is only a short ten minutes, and soon your walking into the stadium. You’re excited out of your mind to finally see the girls play in person and you brought one of your jersey’s with you; hoping you could get them to sign it for your souvenir collection. You get to your seats in no time and your so excited to see just how great they actually are. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You have a perfect view of the field and the benches, and as a plus you can hear mostly everything yelled on the field. You get there early enough to watch the teams warm up, the stadium has music blasting and it’s easy to get lost in the girls doing what they do best. As the girls get to rest and stretch some more for a while Sam and Nikki decide that now would be a good time to go get some snacks and drinks for the game. But you decide that you should stay and watch the stuff (while still watching the girls).

To be truthful you couldn’t keep your eyes off of Tobin as she warmed up. You probably (definitely) drooled a little bit when she was stretching earlier. She was beautiful doing what she loved the most, and you see that love in the way she was always playfully doing tricks and nutmegging her teammates. Soon the girls are given a little break to do as they please, and that’s when you can see your new friends scanning the stands as if they’re looking for someone specific. They stop looking as soon as they see your section and you sitting in the front by yourself, and they come right on over.

Ashlyn is the first person to reach you, with a huge mile on her face- one you reciprocate right away.

“We found you!” she exclaims, motioning to herself and the rest of her gang. You smile as you answer happy to be talking to them once again.

“Yup! How’s warm up going so far?” you ask as they all come to a stop right under where you’re sitting.

“Good so far, we’re just getting loose and stretched out right now.” Ali answers your question while wiping some sweat off of her brow with her shirt.

“That’s good. You guys are looking great! Oh could y’all sign my jersey I might sell it for some money one day!” you say sarcastically with a cheesy smile and a wink getting a laugh out of all four, who have agreed (YES!) to sign your jersey. You pass it down with a sharpie and they quickly sign it before handing it back.

“Thanks guys. So how do you think the match is gonna go?” you question as you put your jersey in your bag, before turning back to the four players standing on the field under you.

“We’re confident that we’ll like the result and that the fans will have fun.” Alex answers diplomatically without really giving you an answer of substance. You chuckle at the avoidance of your question.

“Thanks for the press release Alex.” You reply teasingly while laughing at them. They laugh at how silly you are before you continue. “It’s cool you can’t give a real answer I get it.” You finish holding your hands up in surrender. They nod before continuing the conversation.

“Hey what are you doing after the game?” Tobin asks with a shy looking smile while looking up at you through her eyelashes and dear good you might die just from that look. It takes you a second to recuperate before responding.

“Well maybe dinner but for sure probably just going back to the hotel with my sister and friend.” You answer with a decisive nod. “Why do you ask?” you question looking down at Tobin, who in your opinion looks more beautiful than she did this morning if that’s possible. Tobin looks flustered for a second before she finally answers you looking shy again.

“We were um wondering if you’d maybe um want to come out with us after the game to hang out again?” she stutters out her question looking a little unsure of herself before finishing confidently.

“Yeah that sounds great!” you exclaim before remembering Sam and Nikki. “Would it be okay if I brought my friend and sister along?” you ask looking to the four for an answer. They seem to mull it over for a second before responding. 

“Of course they can come! We’ll think of some places and then after the game we’ll come over and tell you where we decided to go and such.” Ali responds with her signature nose crinkled grin. You nod but before you can respond a shout for the girl’s grabs everyone’s attention. They look apologetic before they run off to finish the little bit of warm ups before going back into their locker room to change and for final game prep.

The girls wave as the run away, Tobin taking a little longer to turn away from you than the rest of the girls before finally turning around to finish her warm up. You wave and sit back down, waiting for Nikki and Sam to get back with food and water. While you’re waiting for them you notice more and more people in the stands are looking your way and that most of the team are throwing you curious glances. You get the fans, like come on who wouldn’t be jealous of one fan who got to hang out with the girls for a prolonged period of time? But the team staring at you throws you off a little. You eventually decide that it’s because they’re just curious to sees who four of their teammates spent their time talking to. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Sammy and Nikki get back a few minutes after the teams go back into their locker rooms for their final game prep. They bring with them multiple snacks and waters to last you through the whole game. Everything gets dumped into the little cooler you brought with you and finally you’re all settled in to watch your favorite team live. You can’t wait for this experience, its literally a once in a life time opportunity,

The teams come back out a little while later; with the starters still in the tunnel waiting for the go ahead to come out on to the field. Eventually they’re allowed to come out and line up on the field for national anthems. You can clearly see who is starting from your seat in the stands. Captaining is Carli, then Hope, Becky, Julie, Meghan, Lindsey, Ali, Alex, Morgan, Tobin and Crystal.

With national anthems out of the way for both Ireland and the US- the actual action starts fairly quickly. The girls go up early with a goal at the 15-minute mark by Alex, assisted by Tobin. The game slows down for a while with both sides playing a little sloppy before the US cleans it up and begins dominating possession. The women score again at the 37-minute mark, this time its Carli who scores (no assist). The end of the first half draws near and at halftime the score is 3-0 with Carli scoring right before the half is up at 43-minute mark.

Halftime if a relaxing affair, 15 minutes to get your feet back under you for the last half. You’re happy with how the game has gone so far and can’t wait for the second half to see what it brings.

Soon enough the second half begins, again the women are dominating possession. Some substitutions are made in the second half Heather comes in for Crystal and Christen comes in for Carli at the 46th minute, while Mallory subs in for Alex and Steph subs in for Tobin at the 58th minute. You’re a little disappointed you didn’t get to see Tobin play the while game but the feeling eventually fades once Mallory (Baby Pughy!!) scores off of an assist from Christen. The game is slower in the second half, with only two goals Mallory and Christen, but overall it’s a great game for the start of the new year running into the Olympics.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At the end of them game its Ashlyn who jogs over to you and tells you where you’re going and at what time. You nod before turning to Sammy and Nikki’s questioning glances. You shake your head saying you’ll talk to them about it in the car. You hang out a little and they get a few autographs for themselves, with some of the players still glancing your way all the while. You eventually get back to the car and spend an inordinate amount of time trying to leave the stadium but it’s okay since it gives you time to explain how you met the girls and why you’re hanging out with them tonight. They seem excited to meet the World Cup champions so you consider it a win. 

Once you get back to the hotel you notice you have about an hour before you have to meet the girls at the restaurant they want to try (they had to pick somewhere PG for Mallory). You shower and get changed pretty fast, and soon all you have left to do is a little bit of makes up. You’re finished getting ready with about 30 minutes until you have to meet them. It takes Nikki a little longer because she showered after you but she’s done five minutes later. So you all head downstairs to file into your car and drive the 15 minutes to the restaurant.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You arrive about five minutes early, but that’s okay because you see most of the team is already here. So you guys decide to walk towards the entrance where they’re standing to see if you can spot any of your new friends. You don’t see them right away but the team spots you, in your black dress shirt that you’ve left open with a white undershirt on and a pair of khaki pants that fit you very nice with your black combat boots and your ever faithful PDX snapback- you’re a sight to behold in all of your gayness. They eye you for a second before seeming to send over a team representative to speak to you.

“So you’re the new friends Ashlyn can’t stop talking about?” Christie asks with a smile on her face while she looks you up and down- seemingly sizing you up.

“Um yeah we met yesterday and just hit it off I guess. Sorry I’m Shane, this is my sister Sam and my best friend Nikki.” You respond feeling very intimidated standing in front of THE Christie Rampone. She nods to Sam and Nikki before turning back to you.

“Nice to meet all of you, I’m glad you could come and hang out with us. And it looks like that is my cue to leave Ashlyn and Ali have just arrived. I hope you have fun!” she says before walking back to the rest of the team. You give Sam and Nikki a look before turning to greet Ashlyn and Ali as they walk towards you.

“Hey guys great game and you both look amazing!” you exclaim with a huge smile, “This is my sister Sam and my best friend Nikki.” You introduce to them, your compliment gets a small blush out of Ali and a cocky smirk out of Ashlyn before she responds.

“You guys are looking good too. So are you ready to get some food and just hanging out with us weirdos?” she asks after a second looking over to the three of you. 

“Totally, I think it’s gonna be a blast!” you say as you follow the girls into the restaurant. As you follow them in you notice that Alex and Tobin have yet to arrive. You decide not to comment on it though.

You get into the restaurant and are seated quickly, it seems the team wanted to be spread out but still close together so they’re spread out at several small tables throughout the back of the restaurant. You sit down at a table with Ashlyn, Ali, Sammy and Nikki and two empty seats which you assume are for Alex and Tobin. Everyone sits down and looks over the menus while making small talk. It’s about five minutes later- after everyone’s gotten their drinks- that Alex and Tobin show up and again you’re blown away by Tobin’s beauty. She’s wearing a simple flowy white shirt and white washed ripped jeans with her hair down around her shoulders. They sit down and soon everyone has ordered.

The food is good and the company is better. The girls get to know Nikki and Sammy and you get to know them away from soccer. You find that all of your new friends are easily relatable and you’re very happy that you got the chance to meet them. As dinner is wrapping up Tobin turns to you and asks you if you want to go outside and get some fresh air. You don’t hesitate to say yes, even though you’re nervous out of you mind. But you’re going home soon and so is she so you may not see her for a while. So you decide that this might be a good time to just really get to know exactly who Tobin is.

As you’re walking outside you can’t help to think that this might be the best thing that’s ever happened to you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions, Comments, let me know. As always have a good day!


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night after the game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I didn't really know where I wanted this chapter to go but I think the direction I took is a good one.

You and Tobin walk through the restaurant and to a side door that leads to the patio they have outside. It, luckily for you, turns out that the patio has a small pathway that the two of you decide would be fun to explore, so you guys start down the trail. For the first few minutes the two of you walk in relative silence, just enjoying each other’s presence. Eventually its Tobin who breaks the silence that has grown between the two of you.

“I’m really glad that Ash ran into you the other day.” She states looking at you out of the corner of her eye. You smile at her shyness before turning back to look at the garden around you.

“Me too. It’s really been a dream to meet all of you. I’ve been a fan for so long that it was so cool to see how you guys are off of the field you know?” you ask as you continue to walk the path. She nods her head, while sneaking looks at you when you aren’t paying attention to her.

“Yeah I get it. I’m glad that we got to talking last night and hang out together a little longer as well. I feel like we have a lot in common. Like I never thought I’d meet someone who loved Harry Potter as much as I did. Or thought family was as an important part of life as I did.” Tobin lists out while the two of you stop to sit on a bench the garden has, since you’ve been walking for a good ten minutes. You turn to look at her as she finishes her statement, but pause just to look at how radiant she looks; and this causes you to smile at how cute she looks under the moonlight and the garden around her.

“I feel the same way too, you guys are great. Like it’s such a dream to actually get to be friends with some of your heroes. But the best thing is that it’s really nice having so much in common with you. I can’t believe I’m saying this because it’s kind of embarrassing but I’ve had the biggest crush on you for the longest time.” You say with a blush, not really meeting her eyes as they widen in shock as she looks at you.

She seems surprised by your confession, which doesn’t take you by surprise. Because come on you’d be surprised if someone you just met said they had a crush on you. But you also think it isn’t as weird as it would be for someone else, since she has to have people declaring their love for her on a daily basis, because of the World Cup- maybe even before then. You worry that your confession was just too weird, but then she smiles that adorable goofy smile that takes up her whole face and your transfixed (the one that just draws people in, makes them feel safe and happy); and God how can one woman be so beautiful. While you’re busy staring at her she seems to come to getting over the shock you statement induced, and finally (thank God) responds to your revelation.

“Wow really?” she asks looking a little awed. This confuses you, but you nod once again, blushing, before replying.

“Yeah I know it’s kind of embarrassing, but I mean can you blame me?” you ask with a laugh, eyeing her up and down, trying not to shy away from her because of how nervous you are. 

She laughs with you and the two of you continue to talk about anything and everything, forgetting about the world around you and in that moment it was just the two of you for the next hour and a half. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Neither of you notice how long you’ve been outside; it isn’t until you hear Ashlyn wandering through the garden calling out to Tobin, to presumably tell Tobin that they’re about to leave. You feel disappointed that your time is being cut short- you notice she looks sad too (score one for you!). As the two of you stand up- you and Tobin both turn to each other, hoping to just savor the last little remnants of alone time and peaceful bubbly that you’ve created. But you’re again snapped out of it when you hear Ashlyn calling for Tobin again, you can see Tobin let out a sigh at the sound of Ashlyn’s voice getting closer to where the two of you are hiding. For a moment Tobin is completely still before she seems to make up her mind about something.

“Give me your phone.” She demands, holding out her hand. Her tone shocks you a little bit but you easily comply handing your phone over after you unlock it. She types for a minute before handing it back to you. You look down and see that she’s added her number (damn you must have got some game under the dorkiness) into your contacts and that she’s also texted herself so that she’d have your number. It makes you smile even though you’re a little confused as to why. You look up at her confident face before voicing your confusion.

“How come you needed my number? You have my skype info Tobs.” You ask her with a small confused smile on your face. Tobin just smiles back before pulling you into a warm hug that, while it does take you by surprise, you easily relax into. 

“I wanted to be able to talk to you without hassle, and I thought that this would just be easier to handle than skype.” She says right into your ear making you shiver as her warm breath washes over the skin of your ear. You pull back from the hug but still keep your arms around each other’s waists.

You smile at her and she smiles right back, making you swoon just a little bit (because damn girl’s smile could light up a city). As you smile at each other you both get a little lost in the other’s eyes. And soon you’re dropping your gaze down to her plump lips- and from how close you are you can see the lip gloss on them (dear God you think they’re covered in cherry lip gloss, lord kill you now). Both of you start to slowly lean in towards one another; moving closer and closer- letting your eyes fall shut; and you’re only a centimeter away from feeling her lips on yours for the first time when Ashlyn pops into the small alcove where you guys are standing, (great timing dude, ruin the whole thing why don’t you) which causes the two of you to startle and pull apart quickly. Seeing the two of you so close together causes her to stop short in momentary confusion on just what she exactly she walked into. Then the realization dawns on her face.

Its awkward for a second as you and Tobin compose yourselves (you’re having a hard time not glaring at Ashlyn). When the two of you finally turn back to look at Ashlyn. She seems apologetic that she interrupted a moment between the two of you; but soon she finally voices why she came looking for you guys in the first place.

“Hey guys, um we’re leaving pretty soon and I was sent to find you guys.” She says while awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck. You nod before turning to look at Tobin, (who in your opinion looks as awkward as you feel) as Ashlyn walks back towards the restaurant.

Soon you’re both composed enough to start walking, but unfortunately there is still an awkward feeling to the air around you guys.

“When are you guys leaving?” you ask, hoping to diffuse the tension slightly, as the two of you start the trek back to the team and your friends.

“Um tomorrow is a rest day but we have to leave early the next day for the next game in a couple of days.” She answers you, you nod while thinking of what to do or say next- but it seems Tobin has somewhat recovered from the awkwardness and has beaten you to the punch by taking your hand and entwining your fingers; as if the last five minutes have been full of tension, (woman’s got some balls- pun kind of intended-) together as she asks a question of her own.

“When are you leaving?” she fires back- swinging your clasped hands between the two of you.

“Well we think that one more day here would be fun, so we’ll be leaving the same day as you guys I guess. Probably not as early but right around then.” You answer her with a smile; happy to be getting at the least one more day with this amazing woman and the girls that you get to call your new friends.

The smile she gives you is radiant; and it seems she is just as excited as you are to spend more time together. By this point the two of you have made it back to the front of the restaurant where you see Sam, Nikki, and the rest of the national team are milling about. You and Tobin stop off to a side- to be out of the way and draw less attention to your arrival- also wanting just a few more moments alone with this amazing person (you know you’re a love sick puppy). As the two of you are standing by yourselves the others are starting to get into their vehicles (your car and the team vans). Soon Tobin’s attention is pulled away from you as Alex calls out to her, to say that she needs to get into the van soon.

Before running to get into the van she makes you promise to text her before you go to bed. You agree readily enough and you’re on your way to where Sam and Nikki have the car waiting to drive back to the hotel and settle in for the night.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The girls don’t ask for a lot of details of what you and Tobin did on your walk, knowing your preference for privacy; they’re appeased by your general answer that the walk was very nice and you really enjoyed getting to know her off the field even more. The ride back to the hotel is thankfully short, and soon the three of you are walking into the lobby to head upstairs. It seems that the team beat you back to the hotel, since you don’t see any of them in the lobby as you walk through.

After a quick elevator ride to your floor; getting back into your room is easy enough. Nikki takes the bathroom to get ready for bed first; so you sit down on your bed- leaning against the headboard- to text Tobin that you’re back in your room for the night.

She responds quickly, telling you that she too in is for the night and that her and Alex are just hanging out before they head to bed in a little while. The two of you continue to text as you get ready for bed, and even after you’re ready for bed, you text her until around 1 o’clock in the morning. 

Its Nikki shutting off the late night show that’s playing on tv, that you aren’t paying any attention to, because Tobin is possibly the goofiest and best person you’ve ever met (how can one person be so cute when texting). Its then that you notice the time and freak out a little bit, because you don’t know when she has to be up in the morning and you’ve kept her up quite late. 

So you quickly tell her she needs the rest- especially since she need to recover from the game today. She agrees pretty easily- which tells you just how tired she was. You say your goodnights, plugging your phone in so it charges for the rest of the night, and lay back in bed to get some rest.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You wake up at 9 o’clock in the morning and the first thing you do is check your phone. You’re excited to see that you have two texts, both of them from Tobin, the first telling you good morning (with some cute emoji’s) and the second telling you what her basic schedule for the day was. It makes you chuckle because you know she probably didn’t even know the schedule for today at all, and probably had to ask one of the girls so she could text it to you. You text her back and say good morning as well, throwing in a cute sun emoji. She doesn’t text back right away; you see from her text that she’s at the team breakfast; so you decide that getting your morning routine out of the way would be a good start. You get dressed in leggings and a t-shirt to go do your morning workout. As you’re leaving the room you grab your key, phone and headphones.

When you get into the elevator you check your phone to see if Tobin has texted you back. She has and she’s asking what you’re going to do today. You don’t really know the specific plan since you haven’t talked to either Nikki or Sam, so you have to just tell her what you think the general plan will be; your workout, shower, breakfast, some hanging out, maybe some touristy things, lunch, and dinner.

In no time at all you’re in the lobby walking towards the gym. You pass by the conference room that you think the team is in and it’s still loud so you know most of the girls are in there. When you reach the door your phone vibrates. You check it and its Tobin asking if she can come hang out with you in the gym since her recovery session isn’t until later. You respond with an affirmative before you start with your strength workout. 

You’re in the second set of pullups when she walks in with Kelley. You finish your set before turning to face the women. You have a smile on your face while you take out your headphones to visit with them.

“Hey Tobs, how was breakfast? Oh sorry manners, I’m Shane it’s nice to meet you.” you say as you extend your hand to shake Kelley’s.

“Kelley, nice to meet you as well.” She says as she shakes your hand, you smile at her before turning to Tobin and waiting for her to answer your question.

“Breakfast was good, they let us have pancakes and French toast so that was nice.” Tobin answers with a smile. You nod once again before going back to your work out making small talk with the girls and just getting to know Kelley a little bit. 

You’re waiting for Tobin to respond to your question of what her favorite breakfast food is when her phone rings out with a text message. You wait patiently for her to answer you as she types out her reply before she surprises you by asking you something else.

“Hey Ash and the girls want to hang out for a little bit, I told them I was hanging with you, is it cool if they come hang for a bit?” she asks, looking up from her phone.

“Yeah no problem. I’m actually basically done here, I just need to finish this set and then a shower but after that I’m down for whatever.” You answer her easily while flashing her a grin. You don’t wait for a reply before you start your last set, hoping to get it out of the way.

Just as you’re finishing up- in walks Ashlyn, Ali, Alex, and Sydney. You hop up off from your machine to stand and face the newcomers. As you’re wiping down you face with a small towel that the hotel provides, its Sydney that breaks the silence.

“Hot.” She states with a smirk shamelessly checking you out. Her comment makes you laugh and once again you’re introducing yourself to someone new.

“Thanks I guess, I’m Shane it’s nice to meet you.” you say while still laughing at her bluntness. Her response though, once again, throws you for a loop.

“Oh I know exactly who you are, I’m Syd.” She says as she shakes your hand you give her a little bit of a weird look before just accepting it and you go to gather your things before facing the group to tell them your tentative plan.

“So since you guys already ate I’m down for a coffee run. But after I shower!” you say to all of them and they readily agree and you make plans to meet them in the lobby in about 20 minutes.

You rush up to your room to see Nikki awake and already ready to go out, you tell her of your plans and ask if she wants to tag along. She agrees, so you ask her to text Sam and ask her if she too wants to go while you take your shower. You take a quick 10-minute shower and soon your putting on your clothes for the day- your Oregon swim team sweats, team shirt, and your trusty University of Oregon snapback.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

You meet Sam in the hall with Nikki trailing behind you shutting the door, as you make your way to the elevator to head downstairs. You and the girls make small talk on the ride down, and soon enough you’re walking in to the lobby- ready to meet up with your new friends from the national team. They all stand up as they see you guys approach.

“Hey guys is it cool if Sam and Nikki come?” you ask the girls and they show no disagreement. So the ten of you start off towards the coffee shop that’s down the block from the hotel.

The walk is fun, filled with many jokes from both Sydney and Kelley. But you and Tobin hang towards the back of the group, walking so closely together that every time you swing your arms your hands brush together. You finally just decide to throw caution into the wind and grab her hand, entwining your fingers. The smile she gives you is definitely worth the momentary panic that went through your body as you took her hand; and you finally relax into the walk, enjoying the people around you.

This right here you think, holding a beautiful girls hand- walking with friends, is paradise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey let me know if you want a specific paring, I'm having trouble deciding which ones I want. As always question, comments? Let me know. Have a good day!


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coffee date and getting to know Shane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its taken me so long to update, I've had a lot going on. But here it is and I hope you like it!

Soon enough your group was walking into the local coffee shop. As you walk in you can smell the aroma of coffee, bagels, muffins and scones surrounding you. It makes your stomach growl rather loudly, reminding you that you haven’t eaten at all today. Tobin hears the sound and turns to look at you with a raised eyebrow.

“What can I say? I worked up an appetite.” You say with a goofy smirk on you face, while wiggling your eyebrows in a suggestive manner- trying to get her to laugh at you. It works, (rather well if you do say so yourself), and you have a world class soccer star giggling uncontrollably at your silliness, which makes the rest of the group turn their gazes on the two of you, curious as to what you said to make her laugh so hard. 

“I don’t even know what I said.” You say sarcastically to the rest of the big group, with a shrug of your shoulders. They take your answer and get in line to order their choice of coffee. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The line goes relatively fast with the soccer players knowing exactly what they wanted to drink, having most likely visited the coffee shop earlier in the week during camp. After the team orders- they walk into the far corner of the shop to push some table together so they can fit everyone and wait for their drinks. Soon enough you and Tobin are at the front of the line, after Sam and Nikki have ordered, looking over the options on the menu- to see what sounds good to you right now. You decide on a simple mocha latte and blueberry muffin before letting Tobin order first (hey you’re a gentlewoman okay?).

After letting her order, you stop her from paying saying you’ll get it, and then proceeding to order for yourself. At first she protests you paying, but you tell her it’s no big deal and she finally concedes. You get your muffin from the barista before following Tobin to the back where the girls have set up camp. Most of them have their coffee already with the last couple of people who ordered are still waiting for their drinks. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

The only seats still available are right next to each other between Sam on one side and Ali on the other. You sit down next to Sam while Tobin sits down next to Ali. After a short wait you hear the barista call out your name and you stand up to go get both you your drinks. You notice Tobin starts to get up too but you put your hand on her shoulder to halt her progress.

“I’ll get them. How do you take your coffee?” you ask her with a smile. 

“Are you sure it’s no big deal?” she asks you.

“Yeah I got it. What do you want in your coffee? Sugar, cream, just straight black?” you question her while you make silly faces at her. At this point you haven’t noticed how interested the table seems to be at your exchange. 

“Two sugars with a splash of cream and nutmeg.” She answers with a beaming smile directed your way. You nod before walking up to the counter to get both of your drinks.

You go about fixing your drink with some milk before starting on her drink carefully making sure to get everything perfect, before putting the lid back on and making your way back to the table that you can see has once again resumed animated conversation about something that happened in training a couple of days previous.

You eventually get to the table and set down Tobin’s drink in front of her before sliding into your seat and tucking into your muffin. You’re eating your muffin as Tobin takes her first sip of coffee and smiles at the taste and then turning to look at you take a bite of your delicious muffin (you’re starving from your workout okay). 

“Thank you for getting my coffee. How’s that muffin?” she asks you, nodding towards the aforementioned muffin that you’ve just taken a bite out of. You finish your bite before responding.

“Its surprisingly good, but I am starving so my judgement might be a tiny bit clouded.” You say while taking a swig of coffee to wash down the muffin. She nods her head in agreement before asking you a question.

“Can I have a bite?” she enquires looking at you shyly, like you might shoot down her request right away.

“Yeah of course, we can split it if you want?” you offer, already cutting the muffin in half- taking the side you already took a bite out of for yourself, putting it on a napkin and giving her the other side on the plate the shop provided. She bobs her head in affirmation before biting into her half of the muffin.

You in turn fail to notice the eyes of her teammates watching the two of you interact with a very keen interest. They’re looking at you very curiously, like you’re a puzzle to figure out, and are occasionally sending questioning looks to both Sam and Nikki, who in turn just give shrugs in response. As if to say this is normal behavior for you when you like someone. Tobin and you are in your own world, oblivious to the whole exchange.

The conversation resumes around the table while you and Tobin continue to only have eyes for each other. It isn’t until Sydney twists in her seat to look at you, that you notice her eyes on you so you finish chewing your muffin, swallow before meeting her eyes.

“So Shane tell me about yourself. Who is Shane?” she questions with a look in her eye that you can’t place right now (and quite frankly frightens you just a little bit). You take a sip of your drink, giving yourself time to gather your thoughts before responding to her questions.

“Well exactly do you wanna know?” you enquire right back, trying to see what exactly she wants from you.

“Well what’s your full name?” Sydney comes back with and you groan internally because you don’t really like your middle name.

“Well my full name is Shane Renee Eaton, I’m 21 about to turn 22 in May. I’m from a small town in Northern California. I’m a senior at the University of Oregon, where I attend on scholarship for the swimming program. I’m hoping to make the next Olympics but if I don’t I’ll finish my degrees and move to probably Portland to be a paramedic and to teach EMT classes to high schoolers.” You state- hoping to stem some of the questions you know she’ll throw your way- to the table, you don’t notice that everyone had quieted down once you began speaking about yourself. 

“Well that’s a good starting point.” Sydney replies. “What do you like to do in your spare time?” she finishes speaking with the question, leaning forward to rest her head on her hand.

“Well besides swimming and working out I enjoy reading, watching movies and other sports. I played basketball and softball too, in high school, so I love watching college softball and pro basketball. It’s funny I actually could’ve gone to school on a softball scholarship but I chose swimming.” You say smiling at your memories of your high school years that run through your head.

“Impressive a multi-sport athlete. You didn’t say anything about partying or anything of that sort.” Kelley leads once you’re done speaking.

“Oh no, I don’t party or drink a lot. I never really saw the appeal in it, not that I look down on people who enjoy it- you do you friend- so I’m always the DD when we do go out. I think it’s because I’m an introvert, I’d like to stay home rather than go out you know?” you explain with a shrug while you rub the back of your neck a little embarrassed. They all nod before Kelley asks you another question.

“I see that you wear a bracelet that says Faith on it, are you religious?” she says while pointing to said bracelet.

“Well, I’m not religious per say, but I do have this thing with faith.” You stop to gather your thoughts, this topic and your answer can be a little hard to understand if you don’t phrase it right, and to take a sip of your drink before starting again. “It’s like more of a reminder to have faith in everything I’m doing; and that it’s okay if I fail because that same faith that I have in my actions- I have in myself, so I can do whatever I think I can.” You explain before adding to it. “I think it started when I was younger. Do you guys remember the movie 10 Things I Hate About You?” you ask everyone around the table. You get a unanimous yes from the who table before continuing. “Well there’s a song in the movie, ‘Even Angels Fall’, and the song has a chorus that says ‘you will fly and you will crawl, God knows even angels fall. No such thing as you’ve lost it all, God knows even angels fall.’ That’s really resonated with me and I think that’s where my thing with faith comes in; because if even angels can fall down and mess up then it’s not a big deal when it happens to me.” You lean back in your chair as you finish your rant and survey the table.

Everyone is quiet for a little bit absorbing your words. Before Ashlyn speaks.

“Holy shit dude. That was deep.” She exclaims, which makes the table burst into laughter. Once everyone calms down, you respond. 

“Uh yeah I guess.” You state with a small chuckle before taking a drink of your coffee. And so the interrogation goes on for another thirty minutes; with the girls asking all kinds of questions like how many relationships you’ve been in (three serious ones), what your sexual orientation is- Kelley asked that- (gay as hell), what physical attributes you found attractive (you basically described Tobin, that was a little embarrassing for everyone involved), if you wanted kids (yes but you want to adopt, and maybe your partner would carry them), where you’ve traveled too (mostly just around the US but you’re thinking about going to the Olympics to see them play- to say this surprised them is an understatement). 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You had a really fun time talking and getting to know Sydney and Kelley. But eventually the girls have to leave for their recovery session. Your group of ten gets up as one and starts to head towards the door, once again you and Tobin are towards the back of the group. Before you can walk out of the coffee shop you stop- to grab a coffee to go- and you turn to Tobin to ask her a question.

“Hey Tobs do you want a coffee to go? I’m gonna grab one real quick.” You say while pointing to the counter. She thinks it over for a second before looking at you with a smile.

“Yeah that sounds great thanks Shane. I’ll wait for you outside if that’s cool, I wanna talk to Kelley about something.” She says, you give her a nod of affirmation as she twists around to head outside where the rest of the group is standing, while you walk up to the counter to order both drinks. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It doesn’t take long to get both drinks, which are thankfully labeled, so you head over to the counter where the milk and sugar are and fix your and Tobin’s drinks. Soon enough you’re walking outside to meet up with the rest of the girls to make your way back to the hotel. You hand Tobin her coffee with a big smile on your face, missing the raised eyebrow she gets from both Alex and Sydney. Tobin takes a sip of her drink as the group starts to move.

“Thanks for getting me one to go, it’ll definitely hold me over until recovery finishes.” She tells you with a shy smile. You nod, continuing the short walk back to the hotel with your hands occasionally brushing each other’s. You’re again oblivious to the looks that the girls are sending your way, watching how you interact with Tobin very closely.

Neither of you pay any attention to them, too wrapped up in each other. You in particular, are distracted with stealing glances at Tobin while she’s not looking. Soon you’re fed up with not holding her hand, so you gather your courage once more and grab it- giving her a shy look when she turns to gaze at you. She smiles back at you, before going back to her conversation about what she thinks they’ll do in recovery that day. You spend the rest of the walk back to the hotel silently admiring Tobin as she converses with her teammates. She doesn’t say anything to you, choosing to just glance at you with a smile a couple of times before looking at Ali again. The walk back is a little longer, the whole group choosing to take a leisurely stroll instead of rushing back.

The group is a couple of minutes away from the hotel when Tobin pulls your hand to slow down your pace even more. You stop, giving her a confused look as to why she’s halted your progress. She looks a little nervous before she speaks.

“Hey I was just wondering if you’d like to get dinner with me tonight?” she asks with a cute blush covering her cheeks, that’s almost hidden by her tanned body. 

You can’t believe it! THE Tobin Heath has just asked you out. You stop for a second to pull yourself together, and realize that you should clarify if this is a date or not.

“Like on a date maybe?” you question back- hoping against hope she’ll say it is a date.

“Yes on a date.” She clarifies with that maddeningly beautiful grin.

“How does six o’clock sound?” you ask and she agrees easily- and so the two of you make your way back to the hotel, ironing out the details of when and where you’ll meet up. She asks where you want to go but you decide that its best if you keep it a surprise for her and she thankfully agrees once more. It isn’t until she’s walking away for recovery that it really sinks in.

Holy shit. You have a date with Tobin Heath. Praise the lord above dreams do come true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions, comments, clarifications? Let me know and as always have a good day!


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long to get out. I've been really busy with moving and college but its here now so enjoy!!

Its two o’clock in the afternoon and you’re starting to freak out a little bit. You usually have little to no trouble coming up with ideas for dates, but then again you’ve never had a date with an international soccer star you tell yourself. You eventually decide that, from the small amount of knowledge that you gained of Tobin’s likes and dislikes from the sleepover, that simple would be the best route to go. You try to relax around the room with Nikki and Sam, hoping that it’d calm your nerves about tonight, and it does some. The girls help you immensely with relaxing so that you wouldn’t make a complete fool of yourself during your date. 

Soon you’re getting ready for tonight. After a shower you style your hair to fall in waves down your back. You settle on a simple tight black V-neck with ripped black skinny jeans, finishing it off with black vans. You debate on which snapback you want to wear and in the end you decide on your Oregon hat, you gotta rep your team (and it has nothing to do with this being your lucky hat)! You take one more glance in the mirror to make sure you look presentable, before you head down to the lobby to meet Tobin. The ride in the elevator was shorter than you wanted it to be, leaving you almost no time to give yourself one last pep talk. As you step off of the elevator you see that you have arrived before Tobin so you decide that the best course of action would be to sit in a chair that’s directly in sight if one were to just step off the elevator (don’t be weird, don’t be weird!). So you bunker down trying in vain to look more confident than you feel at this point in time. 

It’s no more than five minutes after you’ve sat down that you see Tobin exiting the elevator and scanning the lobby looking for you. It doesn’t take her long to find you and you stand up as she approaches you with a smile on her beautiful face.

“Hey Shane! You ready to go?” she asks as she stops in front of you.

“Yup, I think you’ll like what I have in mind for us.” You respond smiling, and offering your arm for her to take hold of.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You lead her out of the lobby, not noticing some of her teammates spying on the two of you from the stairwell entrance. The two of you leave the hotel and you guide her away from the line of taxis; instead steering her towards some of the small shops that line the hotel on either side. She seems content to follow you to your destination without asking where you’re taking her, having accepted that you wanted it to be a surprise. The walk is quiet but pleasant, both of you basking in the other’s presence. And soon, too soon in your opinion, you’re at your destination, a quaint little bistro that you picked specifically because of its location. It’s a little bit off the beaten path, and you hope the privacy would allow Tobin to be able to relax more than if you took her to a well-known restaurant, with a lot of people who could ruin your privacy.

You made reservations earlier, so you’re almost immediately lead to a table in a secluded corner as per your request. You pull out the chair for Tobin and you take your seat across from her. The waiter comes over and asks what you want to drink while also telling you the specials and wines. You both order water and tell him that you’ll decide if you want wine when he comes back with your water. When he leaves you turn to Tobin to ask her if she’d want wine, 

“So looking at their list it seems like they have some pretty good choices. Do you want to try any?” you question while looking from her back to the list. She scans the list for a little bit before she looks up to meet your eyes.

“Yeah I feel like some wine tonight.” She responds as soon as the waiter comes back with your water. You order the wine that she wanted and the both of you turn your eyes to look over the menus. You find what you want pretty quickly so you put down your menu to just look at her in the soft lighting of the bistro. She looks incredible with her down and still a little wet from the shower you assume she took after recovery.

 

She soon puts her menu down and takes a sip of her water before turning towards you. You both look at each other for a few seconds before the spell is broken by the waiter who seems unaware of the moment he’s broken as he sets down the wine you ordered and asks if you’ve figured out what you want to eat. She orders lemon baked chicken with garlic potatoes and you settled on grilled salmon and wild rice. The waiter takes your menus before walking away, leaving the two of you alone to talk once again.

“I’m really glad we could do this tonight.” She says with a small smile, and you nod your head with a goofy grin before subtly reaching for her hand that’s settled itself on the tabletop. She grabs your hand before you could grab hers and laces your fingers together.

“Me too, it’s definitely already the best date I’ve ever been on.” You exclaim while looking into her eyes.

“We haven’t done much, how’s it the best?” 

“Because I’m with you.” you say softly. She giggles at your cheesy line before shaking her head at your silliness.

“Well then, let’s not disappoint.” She declares whilst raising her glass to touch yours.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dinner was amazing, both of you love what you ordered but you share with one another to see how you felt about what each other got. She asks about splitting a dessert but you tell her that you have other plans so she makes no protest. It’s then you figure out how big of a sweet tooth she has. When the bill comes she tries to split it with you but you fend her off telling her that since you planned the date that you get to pay, she doesn’t seem so convinced, so you appease her by saying she could get the bill on the next date the two of you go on; you take her smile as a good sign.

You pay quickly before taking her hand and ushering her outside and back towards the hotel. She doesn’t say much, just electing to hold your hand as you babble on trying to make her laugh. Thankfully you get a few giggles here and there. She gives you a questioning look as you walk past the hotel; but eventually lets it slide as you say it’s a surprise. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A short walk later and you’re leading her into a retro candy store that has all sorts of treats- from hard candies to taffy to ice cream and cake. You look at her to make sure she’s okay with it; and to say that she looks like a little kid in a candy store is an understatement- so you set her loose. Telling her you’ll buy her whatever she wants, she looks ecstatic and so when she reaches up to kiss your cheek before proceeding to drag your frozen body through the store to check everything out, you can truthfully say you don’t remember any of it. You’re instead reminiscing the feel of her lips on your cheek. The two of you spend about ten minutes looking at everything before she decides it’s time to pick out what she wants. She ends up with a little bit of everything they have to offer; a couple of hard candies, some taffy, a small slice of cake and a quart of their homemade ice cream. You eventually decide on a few pieces of candy and a slice of cake. You follow her eager form to the register to pay for your contraband- because really there is no way in hell Dawn would let the team have this- before leaving the store and walking to a bench that’s closer to the hotel.

You both sit down and relax back into the bench and you suggest that she eat some of her ice cream so that it doesn’t all melt and has the added benefit of trying it before you have to take her back to the hotel. As she digs in you further explain to her that since Dawn would probably confiscate all of her goodies, that you’d be happy to hold everything for her until she can come and smuggle it from your room to hers. So the two of you sit and relax, occasionally looking up at the stars that are visibly. You eat some of your hard candies while putting your arm over her shoulder as she happily eats her ice cream. She seems to be enjoying it so you just smile and pull her closer. You sit in silence for a little bit, basking in moment, before she slows down on her ice cream and offers you a bite. You try it and can agree that its delicious. And for the next five or so minutes the two of you sit closely together and eat the ice cream before you’ve both your fill. So she puts the carton down on the bench beside her before snuggling into your side even more, you offer her a few of your candies but she declines, so you continue eating for a minute before you too stop and peer down at her.

You can’t get over how amazing she looks, with the moon shining down on her, or the fact that she is on a date with you to begin with. You get caught staring at her though, but instead of turning away embarrassed, like you usually would, you summon your courage and lean down to kiss her. She seems a little surprised at first but soon she’s kissing you back- and you swear to every god in existence ever it’s the best kiss you’ve ever had.

Her lips, you can’t help but think, are amazing. Hopefully you’ll get to do this again.

**Author's Note:**

> So what did y'all think? Let me know and don't be afraid to message me or leave a comment if you have a questions or need any clarification. Have a good day!


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